This program will be held in-person at the Newberry and livestreamed on Zoom. The online version of this event will be live captioned. Please register below.
In this edition of “Conversations at the Newberry,” historian John William Nelson discusses researching issues of land use and landscape change, focusing on the Indigenous history of Chicago waterways, with Tribal Historic Preservation Officers Eric Hemenway and Raphael Wahwassuck.
This event is part of programming connected with our free exhibition, Indigenous Chicago, running September 12, 2024, through January 4, 2025. The “Conversations at the Newberry” series is generously supported by Sue and Melvin Gray.
Speakers
Eric Hemenway, an Anishinaabe/Odawa, is Director of Repatriation, Archives, and Records for the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians of Waganakising—The Land of the Crooked Tree—located in the northwest portion of the lower peninsula of Michigan. He has a lifelong involvement in researching Odawa history. He has collaborated widely with museums, universities, the National Park Service, schools, and various governments in conducting and presenting research to a wide range of audiences, including to students, staff, faculty, and the general public. He has a wide range of speaking experiences, writing accomplishments, and media projects.
John William Nelson, Assistant Professor of History at Texas Tech University, explores the ways ecology and geography shaped the terms of cross-cultural interaction between Native peoples and European colonizers from first contact through the early republican era of the United States. He is the author of Muddy Ground: Native Peoples, Chicago's Portage, and the Transformation of a Continent, which explores how a particular local landscape along Chicago's continental divide influenced colonial encounters from the seventeenth through the nineteenth centuries.
Raphael Wahwassuck is a Tribal Council member and Tribal Historic Preservation Officer for the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation.
Cost and Registration
This program is free and open to all. Advance registration is required.
Registration opens October 1.
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Past Public Programs
Check out video recordings of past Newberry public programs on our YouTube channel.